Lawyer: Ex-Speaker Hastert won’t appeal conviction, sentence

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Lawyer: Ex-Speaker Hastert won’t appeal conviction, sentence

CHICAGO — Dennis Hastert’s lead attorney says the former U.S. House speaker won’t appeal his conviction or 15-month prison term in a hush-money case centered on his sexual abuse of students when he was a high school wrestling coach in Illinois decades ago.

Thomas Green confirmed Thursday in an email to The Associated Press that his 74-year-old client won’t appeal before the looming deadline.

Judge Thomas Durkin branded the Republican “a serial child molester” at his April 27 sentencing, where Durkin imposed a punishment that went beyond federal guidelines.

Hastert pleaded guilty to violating banking law as he sought to pay $3.5 million to one victim to keep him quiet about the abuse.

Durkin justified the tougher sentence by pointing to Hastert abusing at least four boys at Yorkville High.